Did You Catch What I Did There?

I’ve invented a new term. Or maybe it’s a word. What do you call a word with parens in the middle of it? Do the grammar police allow such nonsense? Probably not. When I run this article through Grammarly, I bet it will have a field day with this new word-term-thing I’ve created. In any case, the term is GI(bill)arbitrage.

As a play on words, it’s quite clever … if I do say so myself. You can’t see me, but right now I’m patting myself on the back. It gets more clever still, but the meaning becomes less obvious if you drop the (bill) part and just go with GIarbitrage. Sounds a lot like the now infamous term Geoarbitrage used so heavily within the Financial Independence (FI) community, doesn’t it? It should because it’s a direct riff on the meaning of that word. However, because I didn’t want people to confuse GIarbitrage with Gastro-Intestinal arbitrage (whatever that might be?), I stuck the (bill) part in the middle.

What’s the Point, Grumpus?

Did you know the GI Bill can be used to study overseas? Neither did I until a few weeks ago. More accurately put, I never thought to examine the idea until Mrs. Grumpus and I decided we might like to emigrate to New Zealand after I retire from the military. By that point (and I mean all of about six weeks ago), I had already decided to retire from the military without transferring my GI Bill to my kids. I had also decided I was going back to school to use the GI Bill myself.

In my mind, it’s stupid to waste the free-money the GI Bill represents. If my kids can’t use it, then I should. Plus, school is now an integral part of my plan to successfully transition to civilian life. As a result, any plan to emigrate to NZ must incorporate the ability to study using the GI Bill.

My second point is this: Surprise!? We might move to New Zealand. Confused? Maybe you thought we were headed to San Diego for retirement? That’s understandable. All my retirement planning articles up to this point have included San Diego as the primary option. While some of my planning articles referenced the potential to move back to Mrs. Grumpus’s home country, that’s not NZ. Thus, I apologize if you feel like I just gave you a serious case of retirement planning whiplash.

This is Not the NZ Geoarbitrage Article You’re Looking For

This article is not Grumpus Maximus’s definitive post about how to plan an NZ retirement using a pension. Nor is it my definitive article on the Geoarbitrage benefits and/or drawbacks (or other benefits and/or drawbacks) of emigrating there. Those will come in time. That said, our planning for NZ is advanced enough that it’s time to share the news. I’m learning lessons in real time (like the topic of this post) that may prove useful for my audience. Therefore, I want to share those lessons learned without engaging in a verbal kabuki dance. Not only that but since I broke the news to my siblings and parents a few weeks ago, there’s no reason why I shouldn’t share. Mrs. Grumpus’s parents already know, as well as most of my friends. The timing, in other words, is right.

Back to Reality

Where was I before that brief segue? Oh right, you can use the GI Bill to study overseas. As our NZ planning progressed from a dream (i.e. thought in my head) to plan (i.e. written down) I quickly realized two things that using the GI Bill to attend university could help solve:

1. Enrolling as a student is an easy solution, but maybe not the best solution, to the initial visa problem for emigrating to NZ
2. In conjunction with my pension, the living stipend (MHA) that the GI Bill pays, essentially eliminates the need to work

“No Papers”

An in-depth explanation of the visa issue is something best left for another post. For the purposes of this article, all you need to know is that as an American I can’t just rock-up to the customs or immigration officer stamping passports at Auckland or Wellington airport and announce that my family and I plan to live in NZ permanently. My family and I actually need to obtain permission to live and work in NZ on a temporary or permanent basis. That’s usually best done in advance. That was made all the more apparent in 2018 when NZ passed strict property ownership laws limiting home purchases to their citizens and emigres with permanent work/stay visa status.

The Student Pathway

That said, pretty much anyone accepted to study at an NZ university can emigrate legally to NZ on a student visa for the length of their studies … as long as they can demonstrate an ability to pay tuition. That’s where the GI Bill comes in. It’s solid proof that a U.S. veteran can pay for school. Or, in other words, a vet isn’t going to just move to NZ and free-load for a few years on the NZ government’s dime. It’s important to note though, that once there, the ability to convert a student visa into a permanent work/stay visa appears rather easy. Some of that depends on your course of study, and any other work-life experience you bring to the table. However, it still appears easy, and that was confirmed by an NZ immigration lawyer I spoke to recently.

There are drawbacks to a student visa pathway though, especially if you have a young family and need to send your children to NZ public schools while you study. Some of those drawbacks can be ameliorated by choosing to study a topic that appears on the NZ long-term skills shortage list (linked here). Yet, you can’t buy property if you enter NZ on a student visa, nor can your partner/spouse work.

Yet, a spouse or partner can legally look for work. If they obtain a job offer, they can then apply to convert to a work visa. So, it’s not perfect, but a student pathway is a visa option that can get a person (with family) to NZ by a certain date for a guaranteed length of stay (i.e. the length of the university course … which is up to three years in my case). In all honesty, if Mrs. Grumpus and I choose to exercise this option, our hope would probably be that Mrs. G finds a job and converts from a “spouse of student” to a permanent work/stay visa.

Huh? I ended up explaining visa options in depth after all. Not my intent, so treat the information accordingly and always seek a second (legally qualified) opinion if you like what you read.

#2: The GI Bill Will Pay for Me (or You) to Live in New Zealand!

If you’re not on active duty when you use your GI Bill, the VA will pay you Military Housing Allowance (MHA) while attending an approved school and program. That’s regardless of whether the program of study is in the States or overseas. Pretty cool, huh? Of course, there are several catches. For instance, the VA currently caps overseas MHA at $1,650 USD a month. Also, the MHA only pays out when you’re in school, and not over winter and summer holidays. However, since I’m not currently looking to study in NZ’s two biggest (and therefore most expensive) cities, Auckland or Wellington, that rate appears reasonable to me. A family of four can rent a damn nice house for less than $1600 a month in all of the university locations at which I’m looking to study in NZ.

Thus, in conjunction with my pension payments and no other income flow, we could live extremely well in NZ using the GI Bill. That’s before Mrs. Grumpus even determines if she wants to work. If she doesn’t, and we just want to live comfortably and travel cheaply around NZ and Australia while I’m on school breaks, we can do that too. Any difference between the fixed income flow of my GI Bill and the pension could easily be covered by utilizing a Safe Withdrawal Rate (SWR) of 3.5% or less from our investments. I’ve already run the numbers, and it won’t be any more expensive to live in New Zealand than it would be in San Diego. As result, all the previous budget planning that I made for our San Diego retirement plan also applies to anything we might do in New Zealand.

How Do I Determine If An Overseas University Is GI Bill Qualified?

That’s a great question! I figured this out myself. As a result, I can tell you exactly how to determine if an overseas school is qualified by the VA to receive GI Bill benefits. If you’re thinking about studying overseas using the GI Bill, the first thing you should do is go to the VA’s GI Bill Comparison Tool website. Once there, enter the pertinent details in the correct fields according to your GI Bill (yes, there are different GI Bill programs). When that’s done, go to the box that reads “Enter a city, school or employer name” and enter the name of the overseas university to which you are thinking of attending. Hit the “search schools” button.

If you’re lucky, and a previous US GI Bill recipient studied at the university in the recent past, then the name of the school should appear after your search. If that’s the case, the university address plus some generic details regarding the total reimbursement for tuition, housing, and books that the GI Bill will pay should appear on the right-hand side of the page (that’s assuming you’re using a laptop or PC to view the page). A link for “view details” will also appear. Click that link! Doing so takes you to a page that allows you to enter specific information (like the cost of the course) and details regarding part- or full-time study. when you do that, you’ll receive a rough estimate on what the GI Bill would pay for.

How Do I Determine if a Specific Course of Study is GI Bill Qualified?

OK, let’s assume your intended overseas university is already enrolled to receive GI Bill payments. It still doesn’t mean that your specific course of study is approved for the GI Bill. However, it must be in order to get reimbursed! To determine program specificity you need to go to a different VA Webpage. That webpage is a little less user-friendly, and I only found it by emailing the VA with a question. As a result, I’m about to save you several days worth of work by providing the following link: WEAMS Institution Search.

Once you bring up the WEAMS page, you have two options. You could either type in the name of your intended university in the “Institution Name” block and hit search. Or, you can search institutions by country by clicking the “To Search by Country, click here” link. Either way, you’ll hopefully end up clicking on your institution’s link. Upon doing so, up will pop an information page with your university’s address and some other important data like the name of the administrators at the school who handle GI Bill issues. Note those names for later!

In the meantime, note the red box at the upper part of the page with a white script that reads the following: “Weams Institution Search”. Underneath that box will be two tabs, one that says “Institution Profile” (which is the default tab with its address info), and one that says “Programs”. Click the “Programs” tab. Up should pop a page with a red box and white script with the word “Description”. Hot linked under that tab is the term “Institution of Higher Learning”. Click that hotlink. Once done a list of all the programs at the school currently qualified to receive GI Bill payments will appear. Hopefully, yours is listed. If so, your task of applying just got immeasurably easier.

Help, My Program Wasn’t Listed!

No worries, I’ve got an app for that. Just kidding, there is no app. Fortunately for you, however, I went through this process so I know what to do. Remember when I told you to note the names of the university staff connected to GI Bill issues? Well, it’s time to contact them via the university’s website. When you do, explain which program you’re interested in and that you’d like to get it certified for GI Bill approval.

At that point, they’re going to tell you that you need to actually apply to the school and the program in order to get it certified. Assuming there’s no financial liability in simply applying (there isn’t typically) then you should go ahead and apply. Conversely, you could just go ahead and apply prior to contacting the university staff. You’re going to need to apply no matter what if you want to get the GI Bill qualified for that institution’s specific course of study. So, in reality, it doesn’t matter which order you do it in.

It’s Not That Hard

Once done, however, it’s up to those administrator(s) to contact the VA and make the application for the specific course of study. You as the potential beneficiary cannot do it. I repeat YOU cannot request that the VA approve the course. The school must do it, so don’t waste your time.

In my specific case, I didn’t find this process to be a problem. Then again, I’m dealing with First-world universities and administrators in NZ who’ve done this before. If you’re not dealing with a First-world university then it may get more problematic. Bottom line though is the school administrators have a motivating factor to interface with the VA and get the course qualified as quickly as possible. That motivating factor is that they want your (or the VA’s) monies, yo! Thus, if they don’t act with celerity, you may want to think about applying to a new or different school.

Help! I Never Got as Far as a School

What happens if you never got past GO, because the school isn’t listed on the VA Comparison Tool or the WEAMS websites? Assuming you really want to go to that school, you’re going to need to get the institution, and then the specific program qualified to receive GI Bill payments. In reality, it’s not that much harder to get a university qualified than it is a specific program. I did both. Again though, I’m working with well-established institutions inside a First-world country. You may not be so individual user experience may vary.

In any case, let’s say you’re dead-set on applying to a certain overseas school in order to attend a certain program. Apply to the school and program; wait for accepted; and then contact the administrator(s) in charge of international student coordination. That won’t be as easy as the above example because this time the names won’t be listed on the WEAMS website.

As a result, you’ll have to do some digging on the website of your intended university. You’re looking for someone with a job title like “International Student Compliance and Policy” or “International Relations Office“. Most well-established universities have one, so I hope this doesn’t prove too hard for you. If it proves a difficult task, that may not be a good indicator of the quality of the school. All the universities I applied to in NZ (even the ones not pre-approved for the GI Bill) had some sort of office that dealt with international students. Some even had the directions for making use of the GI Bill on their website.

Not All Programs Are Created Equal

It turns out the VA won’t simply approve any old university program. As you may recall from my Choices and Thankfulness article, I had hoped to study horticulture at a vocational school. It turns out that there are plenty of vocational/polytechnic institutes that run horticulture programs in New Zealand. In fact, New Zealand leads the world in sustainable agriculture programs of the kind I’d like to study. That said, several of my ideal vocational schools don’t run qualification producing programs that easily translate to an American equivalent degree … like an Associates Degree. As a result, the VA has denied those institutes’ application for VA funding.

Good Stewards(?)

From a taxpayer’s standpoint, I can understand the logic. The VA wants to ensure that veterans who use the GI Bill (be it in the States or overseas) actually study a program which produces a high likelihood of obtaining a job once they graduate. In other words, no underwater basket weaving degrees … and especially no international underwater basket weaving degrees. At the same time, I’m a bit mystified. One of the courses to which I applied, but the VA rejected, was a 12-month intensive work/study horticulture program that actually awarded a degree. The VA rejected it because it wasn’t a Bachelor’s or an Associate’s degree program. Ironically, the VA accepted that school’s Viticulture (wine growing and making) degree.

WTF? The VA basically told the institution that it was OK for students to learn how to make booze for a couple of years, but not OK to learn how to grow veggies in a greenhouse. As a non-wine lover, I don’t think that’s fair, but I digress. In any case, I’m now primarily looking at three-year Bachelor of Science (BS) programs, as opposed to one-year vocational programs. That’s right, I’m going to study BS, so take that VA. As an aside, I’ve yet to decide as to whether or not enrolling in a full-time three-year degree will be too much to bite off immediately after retirement.

I Hope You Found This Helpful

As with all my articles, I hope that at least a key section of my core readership found this article useful. I understand that only a minority of my readership works in the US military. I also understand that many readers don’t have access to the VA’s GI Bill.

For those with access to the GI Bill, and interested in using it to study overseas, it’s very much a case of buyer beware. Don’t commit to any financial transactions or any sort of financial relationship with an overseas university until after the VA makes the determination on the eligibility of the specific course you’d like to study. You can check those results rather easily on the WEAMS website by going back to the “Programs” link every day or so. The VA approved one of my programs in just four days, although that school had over 20 programs already approved. Once you see your specific program at that specific school listed, then you can commit financially.

One last thought, I requested that one of the universities put me in contact with other US Vets using the GI Bill at the school. I thought it would be a good idea to hear straight from the horse’s mouth. Maybe they can tell me about how easy it is to use the GI Bill at that school. The school’s responded they would, but that it would take a few weeks to track someone down. It’s still Summer break time in NZ (DEC – JAN). The benefits of living in the southern hemisphere! Christmas and New Year’s take place in Summer. I can’t wait!